Continually increasing demands on motor vehicles with respect to emissions, fuel consumption, safety and comfort require more and more complex systems that generally consist of a combination of mechanical and electronic components. In the past, if such systems were mostly developed separately by electronic and mechanical system, nowadays there is an ever stronger focus on the so-called mechatronics approach, where combined development of mechanical and electronic components provides for an optimal targeted solution.
By use of mechatronics, which conceptually also comprises networked mechanical and electronic control units, different support systems can be interlinked to improve safety. One example here is the combination of ABS control units and ESP control units with the electronic motor control or the control of an automatic transmission. First-generation mechatronic systems only optimize the control of certain machine behavior, but humans and their characteristics and requirements can just as readily be included in a control loop. This characterizes the mechatronic systems of the second generation. Here there is a direct interaction between human, sensor and actuator.
It is known that all shift procedures can be precisely adjusted within the transmission by way of mechatronics. For the operator of a vehicle with an automatic transmission, this translates into high shifting speed, optimized shifting quality and increased driving comfort. The shifting electronics not only send signals, but also receive data related to the individual driving situation. This allows the electronic control to recognize the transmission gear ratio condition, the driving resistance (for example, vehicle weight and road incline) as well as the driving characteristics of the driver and to react accordingly, for instance with optimized shifting times. By doing so, it covers a large variety of driving styles, ranging from very sporty to very economical.
Electrical short circuits within the area of the actuator system have been known as a source of malfunction of automatic transmissions with mechatronics directly integrated on or in the transmission housing. These short circuits are caused by metal shavings introduced into the area of the conventionally open electrical actuator contacts through the oil stream of the transmission. Metal shavings come from component processing, wear and tear or particles and will never be completely eliminated.
The actuators usually have relatively large funnel-shaped openings in the area of the electrical contact in order to ensure secure and fast installation and/or connection of control lines. So-called blade contacts are often used at the ends of control lines to establish the electrical contact of the actuators, which have a high degree of flexibility in order to balance the chain of tolerances between the hydraulic actuators and the electronic module.
In this context, it is the purpose of the invention to effectively and economically prevent the entry of metal shavings into the area where the actuators and/or sensors make electrical contact.